Cape 'Angel' accused of fraud

BOSTON — According to an indictment returned Friday by the state attorney general's office, a Cape woman has preyed on people who lost family members or were enduring serious medical conditions.

K.C. MYERS

BOSTON — Shortly after her 16-year-old daughter, Crystal Manchuk, was struck by a car and killed on Route 28, her mother got an e-mail message from Gina Clark.

The Marstons Mills resident introduced herself to Kim Manchuk of Centerville by saying she witnessed the July 2008 accident and held Crystal in her arms. She claimed that Crystal had called out for her mother in her final moments.

Three months later, however, Kim Manchuk learned the heartbreaking story was invented by Clark, who really arrived after Crystal was in the ambulance. But the tale had enabled Clark to become involved with the Manchuk family. So the Manchuks allowed Clark's nonprofit group, Touched by Angels, to hold fundraisers to assist them in their time of grief.

But even Clark's offer of help turned out to be a lie, Manchuk said.

According to an indictment returned Friday by the state attorney general's office, Clark has preyed on people who lost family members or were enduring serious medical conditions.

She offered to hold fundraisers for middle-class people who wouldn't otherwise get government benefits. She raised thousands, but families would receive as little as $50 to $200, according to a press release from the AG's office.

"By promising these victims financial support and then keeping the money for herself, we allege that this defendant stole tens of thousands of dollars from families in need," Attorney General Martha Coakley states in the press release.

Her most serious charge is gross fraud, for which she could get a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, according to Harry Pierre, an AG spokesman.

Clark, 40, who lives in a home she bought with her husband for $710,000 in 2006, did not return a call from the Times seeking comment Friday. Her white Cadillac Escalade sat in the driveway of the home Friday.

Clark ran the Marstons Mills nonprofit, Touched by Angels, from 2007 to 2010. The AG's office refused to renew the group's license to solicit donations in 2010 due to numerous complaints.

Two of Clark's former staff members wrote letters to the AG's office alleging Clark improperly used donated money and failed to pay staff, and the letters led to the filing of charges, the AG press release states.

But the stories of victimized families may be even more damaging as the case unfolds in court.

Manchuk called Clark's methods "psychotic and low."

The Centerville woman was devastated by the loss of her daughter, who was struck on Route 28 in Hyannis after she left her job at McDonald's at the Cape Cod Mall.

Clark told Manchuk she would hold fundraisers for the grieving family. At the fundraising events, Clark would flit around the room wearing wings, Manchuk said.

"It was inappropriate," she said. "It wasn't a party. It was a tragic event."

Manchuk said she had a bad feeling about Clark from the start. Her feelings produced guilt at first because she believed Clark was trying to help.

But the negative emotions grew stronger when Clark underreported the amount of donations at events, then gave the family a hard time about collecting the proceeds.

Clark also took it upon herself — without the Manchuk family's approval — to change Crystal's online obituary so that any memorial donations would go to Touched by Angels, and not to the family directly, Manchuk said.

When the online obituary donations only brought in about $300, Manchuk became angry. "I thought, where are my friends. Why won't they help me?" she said.

But they were trying.

Manchuk said friends of the family donated in excess of $15,000 at events and solicitations run by Touched by Angels.

But the Manchuks, who had to submit their bills to Clark rather than get any money directly, only saw $2,000 of the donations, she said. "It wasn't just my family who she stole from, she stole from all those other people who tried to help us."

Manchuk, who has been unable to work since her daughter's death, needs the money to make ends meet.

"So I'm angry," she said. "She'll never feel my pain. And I pray she never will. But I still hope she goes to jail and hurts a little."

One former Touched by Angels employee, who asked to remain anonymous for this report because she's afraid of Clark, said the donors' good intentions were horribly exploited.

"Seeing how willing and able people are to help others, how good people are, that's what really broke my heart," the former employee said.

According to the indictment, Clark stole charitable money from at least 15 families.

When the AG's office announced it would not renew Touched by Angel's license in August 2010, 20 former employees and alleged victims held a protest in front of the Touched by Angels office in Marstons Mills.

Manchuk said people have questioned how families such as her own could be taken in by such an obvious charlatan.

"I just lost my daughter — I couldn't even function," she said. "And I'm supposed to be aware that someone would lie about my daughter's final moments? That someone would scam me at the lowest point in my life?"

Manchuk said she sent a complaint letter to the AG's office in September 2008. She also followed up with several inquiries and tried to speak out to warn others.

But, she said, it took more than a year to hear anything back from the AG.

"(Clark) claims to be a friend but she adds misery to your misery," Manchuk said. "She's just unbelievable."

No date for Clark's arraignment, which will take place at Barnstable Superior Court, has been set, Pierre said.

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